Bio of William PAUTZKE (b.1847), Wright Co., MN
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Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Glen Pettit
Transcribed by: Glen Pettit
This Bio is from the HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY, Volumes I and II,
Published in 1915 by Franklin Curtiss - Wedge.
Surname Index for The HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY can be found at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/wright/wright.html
Under HISTORY.
NOTE: This file was scanned and changed to text so there may
be some typos.
pg 998
HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY
William Pautzke, a representative citizen of Rockford town-
ship, was born July 25, 1847, son of Ferdinand and Fredericka
(Winke) Pautzke, and grandson of Johan Winke. In the spring
of 1868, the family, consisting of the father and mother, and the
four children, Wilhelmina, Bertha, Augusta and William, set
out for America. After eight long and weary weeks on the water
they landed, and soon thereafter found their way to Illinois,
where they remained with a brother of the mother, who had
loaned them some money with which to make the trip. In the
fall of the same year they came to Wright county. With them
was Herman Westfall, who had in the meantime married one of
the daughters, Wilhelmina. He bought seventy-two acres of
wild land in section 3, Rockford township, and erected a cabin,
into which the whole family moved. With an ox team they
started clearing the land and doing such farming as they could.
About four years later, William Pautzke, the subject of this men-
tion, bought from a Mr. Cooper a tract of seventy-six acres in
section 3. No buildings had been erected thereon, and no roads
led to it. Not a tree had been cut on the place. He started work,
cut down the trees, erected a log cabin, cleared a small space, and
put in his first crops with a “grub” hoe. From such conditions
did he have to wrest a living for himself and his father and
mother. But his hard work ~von, and prosperity caine to him in
full measure. His wild tract of land took on the aspects of a cul-
tivated farm, and to this he added until he owned 296 acres of
good land. He helped to erect the German Lutheran church, and
has always been a faithful attendant there. The parents were
also devout Lutherans and ¶ied in the faith of that church, the
father in 1902, at the age of 92, and the mother in 1899, at the
age of 70. Mr. Pautzke now has one of the finest farms in the
neighborhood. He carries on general farming, raises good stock,
and is a successful man in every respect. Mr. Pautzke was mar-
ried, August 12, 1858, to Henrietta Shindel, a native of Wright
county, daughter of Michael Shindel, a pioneer. Mr. and Mrs.
Pautzke have seven children, Bertha, Alvina, George, Amelia,
Elenora, Henry and Herman, all living.